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George Nakitsas chosen as candidate for Dufferin-Caledon NDP

February 6, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Political parties are working hard to prepare for the snap election Premier Doug Ford has called for Thursday, February 27.

The NDP is pleased to announce its nomination of long-term party member, George Nakitsas for Dufferin–Caledon.

In a recent interview with the Citizen, Nakitsas said,“It’s almost unthinkable to call an election, with such a majority and two years from needed.”

The saddest part of it for him is how people are trying to find a doctor and “the sad thing is when our grandkids have to wait seven hours in the emergency ward.”

Nakitsas has been a member of the NDP for decades. Indeed, he worked for Ed Broadbent for seven years and was called to join Jack Layton in the famous race in Quebec in 2011, when the NDP won 50 seats.

He told us he has known NDP Leader, Marit Stiles for 20 years. She is saying that she wants to be the Premier of Ontario.

“She made the case at this time, when you need a Premier and this one quit, she is ready,” observed Nakitsas. “So, what I’ve been picking up is a shift, where the current MPP [Sylvia Jones] has been absent quite a bit.”

“Our family is here,” he told us, saying that their two adult children moved to Orangeville at different times over the last several years and he and his wife moved here as well, a few years ago.

Understanding how important it is as a candidate, to be a familiar face, Nakitsas is making a point to be around on Saturdays during but not imposing on the famers’ market, handing out flyers and introducing himself to people.

With such short notice to the election day, Nakitsas and his team are canvassing but not door to door. A series of “meet and greet” chances are being planned, to go all around and meet as many people that they can.

Also, for the Ontario Health Coalition rally, as he said, “I can’t speak for the coalition but we will be there, focusing on health care.”

He pointed the finger at Ford directly by asking, Why call a snap election? To deflect what the records on the new data show: the number of Ontarians without a family doctor has reached 2.5 million, up from 1.8 million in 2020. More than 160,000 people were added to the list of those without a family doctor in a six-month period alone, according to The Ontario College of Family Physicians.

“During the pandemic, wages of medical staff were frozen,” Nakitsas reminded us.

As for building, developers are picking up housing real estate and long term health care facilities as quickly as they can.

Along with the NDP, Nakitsas is concerned for the Green Belt and was part of the protest and pressure that came against Ford when he declared his plans to bury much of it under housing.

From Stiles, Nakitsas reported that Ford dumps urban congestions on the Green Belt, wanting to inflict the 413 when the 407 is empty. She has promised, immediately she is elected, she will have the 407 open to trucks and begin to negotiate to purchase the 407 rather than spend billions of dollars on the very destructive 413. 

Marit Stiles has noted recently that developers are trying to expropriate around Kitchener- Waterloo and destroy large areas of farm land. She met with farmers to discuss what can be done to stop it.

Looking back into his own work life before and after his life in politics, Nakitsas did work for the steel industry. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when he worked with the Canadian Labour Congress, he told us, “We went into the work place and talked to people about how politics affect their working lives, determined that politics should not be a dirty word and the magic happened.”

It was from 1982, Nakitsas worked for Ed Broadbent for seven years. An uphill battle is a difficult one.

But he had one of the best campaigns with Jack Layton who said, “If you keep never giving up, you can do impossible things.”

They took the classic approach on how you make things work when you work together.

He went on to relate, “When I retired and left Parliament Hill, I was Executive Director of the Canadian Steel Trade and Employment Congress during the 1990’s. The organization was a joint body made up of Canada’s steel companies and the Steelworkers Union.”

He met Marit Stiles, the now leader of the NDP, at a meeting wth ACTRA, where she was working to protect actors’ digital production rights.

“ I was always impressed with her and when this election came I said yes,” he said.

Nakitsas is happy to serve the community and riding, to help younger people. He is big on community, having coached girls sports teams, saying that helping with young kids is critical.

The Health Care issues are what annoy him most. On March 18, 2024, the NDP introduced the motion that “called for expanded administrative support for doctors, who are the primary care givers, to free them up to take more new patients that currently don’t have family doctors. And if more people had family doctors, there would be much less strain on our emergency departments,” he told us.

The motion was turned down. 

On Saturday, Feb. 8, George Nakitsas will attend the Ontario Health Coalition Rally with others, to be staged outside Sylvia Jones’ office, hoping there will be a good crowd and cars to honk their horns in response to signs asking them to honk if they opposed US style for-profit services and supported improvements to our public health care.

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